The Eastern Daily Press and Norwich Evening News have been looking for the Next Big Thing. The search has been on to find the hottest new unsigned act to be catapulted to super-stardom after last year's competition winners The Pistolas went on to become industry darlings in less than a year.

The Final

Quirky Norfolk band Le Tetsuo have won East Anglia’s hottest music prize, Next Big Thing II.

Jack Underwood of Le Tetsuo faces the audience at the final

Charlie Morris of Le Tetsuo

Deltaville singer Matt Nickolls   SomeBestFriend

The three-piece Norwich outfit won the keenly-contest grand final of the EDP Event magazine/ Norwich Evening News co-organised contest at UEA Students’ Union on Sunday, November 20.

A record crowd of 700 saw Le Tetsuo and seven other bands in action, drawn from an entry of 115 bands and solo artists for the coveted title.

Le Tetsuo – Charlie Morris, Jack Underwood and Sam Riviere – will receive £1000 of music equipment from Soundcontrol Norwich, two days studio times at Purple Studios, £500 cash from Archant Norfolk plus a guaranteed support slot to a ‘name’ band at the UEA or Waterfront within 12 months.

They outpointed SomeBestFriend and Deltaville to gain the coveted title.

The standard was extremely high throughout, even though two of the finalists – Madmanmoon and Cineclub – were making first public appearances as bands. Also playing in the final were Cortez, Lalia and Overreal.

The event was sponsored by UEA Students’ Union, Purple Studios and Soundcontrol Norwich.

The 13-strong judging panel had a difficult job picking which of the night’s three stand-out bands – Deltaville, SomeBestFriend and Le Tetsuo - would take the coveted title. On balance they decided Le Tetsuo had a winning blend of stage presence, catchy songs, sparky personalities, quirkiness and originality, and they ran out clear favourites.

The judges, drawn from a wide range of backgrounds including musicians, music journalists and industry insiders, recorded their marks separately from each other to ensure the process was fair and impartial. Archant Norfolk events and marketing executive Oliver Franzen stepped onto the panel for the judging of Cortez (taking the place of Kingsley Harris, as Cortez have an album out on his NR ONE label) and Deltaville (taking the place of Jess Glister, who has previously managed the band). Kingsley and Jess judged the finalists they were unconnected with.

Pictures from the final are now available in our Photosales section
- click on the 'Special Events' category and then 'Archive 2'

Madmanmoon had the unlucky task of being first to perform. It was the band’s debut gig after a self-produced demo put together by lead singer and keyboard player Alex Cutts, 30, caught the attention of Next Big Thing II judges. Mr Cutts said: “I was really pleased with how we performed — it was quite nerve-wracking playing our first gig in front of so many people but I think we pulled it off.”

Matt Leuw, lead singer and guitarist wih Americana-influenced Cortez, said: “It was quite a rush playing in front of such a big crowd but I think we all really got into it. It was probably the first time we have had school kids dancing at the front of one of our gigs.”

Third on the bill were Lalia, who, after a shaky start, won over the crowd with their PJ Harvey-esque vocals an trashy punk guitars. Guitarist and lead singer Angela Wood, 26, said; “I felt a bit power crazy playing on that big stage. It was a real buzz and I think I could get very used to it.”

Deltaville brought with them an army of fans and met with rapturous applause. Lead singer and guitarist Matt Nickolls, 25, said: “Our ambition is to get signed and go as far as we can with our music.”

The gig was a debut for Cineclub who owe their inpsiration to rock and punk greats including Nirvana, The Clash, The Pixies, The Jam, Abba and David Bowie. Vocalist and guitarist Jamie Beavis, 26, said: “It was very exciting and I think we had a good gig. I’ve played at the UEA before in other bands so it wasn’t too nerve-wracking.”

The final of Next Big Thing 3 will be held on Sunday November 19, 2006 at the UEA LCR. Further details about the competition will be released later this year.

Next Big Thing II finalists:

Tracks were also available on a free CD